So sorry for your loss. Your mother could be filing a joint tax return for 2023, and could use the married couple exclusion of $500,000 for the gain on the sale of the home.
For the year that your spouse died, you can still file a joint return. That way, you will get the married filing jointly standard deduction of $27,700 (+ $1500 for each spouse 65 or older) which will lower the amount of income you are taxed on.
In My Info, you will need to indicate that your spouse died. When his name is in My Info, there is a screen early in the interview that asks "Do any of these apply to [name] ?’” where you will do that, and then a drop down will appear where you can enter the date he passed.
If your gain was more than $250,000 filing Single, or more than $500,000 filing Married Filing Jointly the sale must be reported on your tax return. Whether you re-invested the gain in to another house is irrelevant. If you have a Form 1099-S go to Federal>Wages and Income>Less Common Income>Sale of Home (gain or loss)
If you owned and lived in the home as your primary residence for at least 2 of the last 5 years on the date of the sale, you do not have to report the home sale if the gain is less than $250K filing Single, or less than $500K filing Married Filing Jointly (and you both owned and lived in the home for at least 2 years).
- If you are using online TT, you need Premium software to report the 1099-S
NOTE: If you have ever used the home as rental property or claimed a home office, you have more information to enter
Or....are there some other legal aspects to this that you have not included here?
**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
